, 1887-05-05
THE PAss INTEREST.

Among the interests affected by
the new law regulating Interstate
commerce Is the pass interest. On
the rulings which the commission
recently appointed shall make con-
cerning this interest a great deal
will depend. The pass Is not ex-
actly an Archimedean lever, but 1t
has moved some political, social and
business worlds. and 1t may do 30
again.
In the popular mind. there Is an
impression that the pass Is peculiarly
n journalistic or political institution.
It is true that many railroads extend
these favors TO newspapers, and 1t Is
we'll known that legislators. munich
pal, state and national, are similarly
looked after by the passenger agents,
but all the editors and officehOlders
may be put together and the number
of passes which they have In their
possession will be small In compare
son with those which business men
carry and use almost weekly. AL
most every publisher OF newspaper
usually has a pass on the railroad
which runs through the town where
he is located, but 1t Is to be borne In
mind that he earns It, and 1t Is gen.
orally given 10 him ia consideration
of advertising, which 1t pleases the
railroad and himself better to have
paid for in this manner than 1t
would II money were the medium OF
exchange. It Is presumed In cases
OF this description that both the
railroad and the publisher were sat.
isfled with their bargain, else 1t
would not have been continued. In
the cities such papers as accept rail-
road passes receive them as gratu-
tiles, for which no return Is expect
ed, and as general thing none
given.
Leaving out Of the question,
therefore, the rural publisher, who
takes his pay for advertise
ments In passes, the railroad favors
extended to the newspaper fraterni-
ty and to officeholders cut but a
small figure in the grand total
of ANIMALS which 1t has been custom
ary for the transportation companies
to put out New Years Day. 1t has
been stated within n few days that
one great Chicago corporation oper-
ating lines In many western states
and territories has $4,000 annual
passes out. Including all that are
given to legislators and publishers
who accept transportation in lieu of
money In payment OF advertising
and the few complimentary ANNALS
which journalists in the cities may
have, It is not probable that more
than 5000 OF these $4,000 are In the
hands of editors and legislators.
Where, then, are the others? They
ale scattered all over the country
through which the various branches
of the railroad run, and are in pos
session of business men who may
have occasion to use the road for
freight shipments. There is hardly
manufacturer in the west who does
not have passes for himself, his fam
lily and some of his employees.
They ride free, and the railroad
makes 1t up in their freight depart
ment.
II one railroad has $4,000 annual
passes out, not to mention the thous-
ands of trip passes which 1t has been
the policy to issue to the favored in.
terests of the asking, how many
passes in the aggregate must there
be in the entire country? They may
be certainly computed by the humid
red thousand. Perhaps one-half, un-
doutedly one-quarter, Of the people
who travel go free. Whom this fact
is remembered 1t will be seen
that, so far as its effects upon
individuals are concerned, the new
commission will make no ruling
which will effect greater interest
than the pass interest. The CON-
plete abolition of interstate passes
will do away with state passes, but
it will result in revolutionizing the
transportation problem in all its
bearings upon half-million of
people. Under that ruling there
will he either less travelling or more
paying, and the tax thus levied
upon the element which has hither-
to gone free will be likely to Offset,
in some measure, the tax which has
fallen upon the element which in
the past has been obliged to pay for
every mile that it travelled. If the
result of this shall not he to reduce
to all the cost OF transportation, many
students of railroad questions will
I,a GREATLY deceived.